As it is generally known, various computer software systems have been developed that allow users to share information and discuss topics. These applications have sometimes been referred to as “teamspaces”. For example, Lotus® Notes includes constructs such as teamrooms, Quickplaces, and other server side databases. Lotus Workplace also includes document libraries and discussions in Workplace Teamspaces. Other examples include discussion forums on the Internet, etc.
Since many users spend most of their time in their email application, they often don't see changes in shared repositories, or they see changes too late for them to be useful. For example, if a user adds a question to an online help desk discussion, they may not frequently visit the discussion to check whether someone has responded.
The concept of subscriptions allows users to be notified when something changes in a shared repository. An example of a subscription approach is found in Lotus Notes, which allows users to add subscriptions manually in order to receive certain change notifications. A potential problem may arise, however, if users do not use the subscription feature, because they don't want to, or don't have time to manually enter change subscriptions. Sometimes users are not even aware of the feature's existence. Manual subscription features may also result in a user subscribing to too many changes, causing them to receive too many email notifications, resulting in their inbox being flooded.
There are also existing systems that provide automatic subscriptions. These systems operate such that when a document is created, added or modified within a teamspace, or when a response is added, notifications are automatically sent. However, these existing systems may also cause an email flood to a user's inbox by generating a large number of notifications. Notifications may be sent when responses are added by other users that are not even known to the receiver of the notifications. Moreover, existing automatic subscription systems do not provide notification filtering or generation based on keywords. As a result, the receiving user may have no or limited interest in many notifications they are sent. Finally, existing systems include no mechanism for providing notifications regarding documents that have been accessed or read by persons that are important to a user, even though such documents may not have been created or modified by the important person.